Monday, June 12, 2017

We all know – and celebrate – June 12 as Independence Day, the day
President Emilio Aguinaldo proclaimed Philippine independence from Spain
in 1898. But aside from the proclamation itself, the country actually
celebrates two more anniversaries on June 12: The anniversary of the
Philippine flag and the anniversary of our National Anthem.

And while every Filipino is familiar with the Philippine flag and Lupang Hinirang, very few people know a few significant
things about the symbolisms and history of the country's flag and
anthem. As we marked the 117th anniversary of the Philippine
Independence Day, here are some facts you're not probably aware of about
our national emblem and hymn: • Aguinaldo himself made the sketch
of the flag that he personally submitted to Doña Marcela Agoncillo who
was living in Hong Kong at the time. • It took Agoncillo and her two
assistants five days of hard work to finish the flag which, as
described by the maker herself, was "made from fine silk with a white
triangle at the left containing a sunburst with eight rays at the
center, a five-pointed star at each angle of the triangle, an upper
stripe of dark blue and a lower stripe of red." • The three stars
represent Luzon, Panay, and Mindanao — not Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.
Panay was part of what the Proclamation of Independence in Kawit,
Cavite referred to as "the archipelago's three principal islands."

•
In 1907, the Philippine flag and any nationalist flags, banners,
emblems or symbols, particularly those identified with the Katipunan,
were once outlawed in the country under the Flag Law of 1907 or Act No.
1696. With the country under American rule, the three stars and a sun
was then replaced by the stars and stripes of the U.S. It took the
Philippines 11 years before the law was repealed and the country's flag
to be raised anew. • The original Philippine flag hoisted in Kawit
on June 12, 1898 was lost somewhere in Tayug, Pangasinan when Aguinaldo
retreated to Northern Luzon during the Filipino-American war. Aguinaldo
himself mentioned this incident in his letter to Captain Baja dated June
11, 1925. Until now, the whereabouts of the original flag of 1898 remains a mystery.